Damian Dursley and The Thief's Ring
by wand89
Summary: Damian Dursley sets out on his first year at Hogwarts and despite his best efforts to avoid trouble he seems intent on following in his Uncle's footsteps.
1. Chapter 1 The Owl and The Letter

**Chapter 1** **The Owl and The Letter**

The snowy white owl leapt from its perch in the owlery of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and began to beat its wings. Exiting through the large glass window the owl left the castle and began to make its journey south. For many hours the owl passed over towns and cities, through hills and countryside but never once slowing down for it had only one destination in mind.

Eventually it began to turn to the west and soon found itself approaching the town of Hawkesbury Upton. The children playing in the streets did not pay any attention to the owl as it made its way up to a large house on the outskirts of the town and dropped a letter in its letterbox. But perhaps they should have paid attention for that letter had just changed the life of Damian Dursley and the fate of the wizarding world forever.

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><p>At that moment Damian Dursley was sitting on his bed contemplating life, not something that most 11 year olds do but then Damian had grown accustomed to being different to most of his peers. For one thing he was a lot bigger than most children his age. However much he tried not to have extra chips for tea and tried to run up and down the stairs everyday he seemed to stay, well, a bit fat. It wasn't that he was lazy for he was a fairly active child but the fat just didn't want to shift.<p>

His father said it was in the genes and he had always been told he looked like his father. They had the same blond hair, the same roundly shaped face, in fact apart from the eyes they did look very similar. He couldn't help but dislike his appearance, not only did it make every little task that bit more difficult but it made Damian stand out, and Damian had always hated standing out. His family didn't seem to mind though, his grandmother told him it was just puppy fat he'd grow out of while his grandfather rather oddly told him it was better he was fat as he didn't want Damian looking too much like 'him' anyway. Whoever the mysterious 'him' was, it wasn't a major concern for Damian (well not unless he could magically help him lose two stone) as he seemed destined to be podgy forever. Despite the worries about his appearance he had and the bullying he had to sometimes endure he knew his weight was not the most important thing in the world. And he also knew he had one thing in his favour, when it came down to it he was actually quite tough. Not in the way that Mike Tyson's tough but in the way that when he had to be he could be surprisingly stubborn and determined.

Once, John Costello and his gang had beaten him senseless demanding he apologise for some unknown offence. Damian had held out for a whole hour until the rather unsympathetic headmaster had dragged him away. Despite his parents views Damian still considered it his finest hour. He still couldn't completely see why his parents had told him off but he often couldn't understand why he was being told off, especially when it came to his grandfather. Anything that Damian did in front of his grandfather that could remotely be considered odd earned him a severe telling off. When he'd fallen off the roof at his grandfather's house and emerged miraculously unscathed his grandfather had got so annoyed he'd locked him in the cupboard under the stairs. His Grandmother had quickly rescued him but only on the condition he didn't tell his parents; An offer he was more than happy to agree to, the ten minutes he'd spent entrapped in the gloom had been bad enough and he couldn't imagine wanting to spend a second longer in there.

As much as he disliked his grandfather he couldn't help but agree with him that he was at times rather odd. And it was not just when he was accidently regrowing eyebrows that John Costello had shaved off that he felt odd, it was all the time. It was almost that he didn't seem to fit in here, and it was that thought that Damian was currently contemplating. He was happy enough he had nice parents, a decent house a couple of friends but something just seemed to be missing.

Damian was still thinking about it at the lunch table later that day. You're being silly he told himself, you've got a perfectly fine life, much better than some people in fact, just be grateful with what you've got. But at that moment his trail of thought was interrupted by a shout from his father who had been gathering in the morning post.

"Oh my god."

"OH MY GOD."

This was most unusual, for his father was not someone known to raise his voice, Damian's mother often referred to him as a gentle giant. "Whatever's happened?" His mother tore in from the garden looking as though she expected the house to be on fire.

Whatever had happened Dudley Dursley did not feel like sharing for he merely stared blankly at an envelope he had in his hands, the rest of the post discarded tamely on the floor.

"Dudley speak to me, tell me what happened." His mother shrieked, her expression had gone from one of concern to one of panic.

"I should have known," his father said, seemingly more to himself than anyone else in the room.

"Dudley." His mother had clearly found this comment as unhelpful as Damian had. His father did not, however, seem particularly concerned by this as he suddenly started to mumble incoherently. It sounded as though he was speaking a different language as Damian could only recognise a few of the words he was saying. He thought he made out something about Hogwarts and dementors but it made absolutely no sense to Damian.

"Dudley Dursley snap out of it, I demand you tell me what is going on and who sent you that letter." No one had ever called Sarah Dursley gentle and her voice seemed to bring Dudley to his senses.

"Oh um yes sorry I freaked out a bit there," said Dudley, which Damian considered, must have been the understatement of the century.

"Oh really I hadn't noticed."

"Well basically everything's going to be fine, and the letter is for Damian."

Damian could feel his mother's eyes on him as though it was his fault that his father had started acting like a mad man. "And what is it about this letter to Damian that caused you to _freak out a bit?_" His mothers glare returned to his father.

"Well it's for Damian and I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"Ruin the surprise, ruin the surprise, you cannot be serious." Her tiny body was starting to shake and her face was getting progressively redder. Damian thought that she was doing a rather good John McEnroe impersonation but he decided now would not be the best time to bring that up.

He started to consider the letter, who could possibly have written to him that could bring about such an extraordinary reaction from his father. He couldn't think of anyone who would want to write to him. His only real friend lived only a ten minute walk away and it was currently the summer holidays so he had yet to start his new school, not that that would have stopped his last headmaster from blaming something on him. Deciding there would be only one way to end this he decided to speak up. "Can I have the letter please Dad?"

"Sure son," said Dudley walking over to hand it to him. From his mothers expression it looked like she clearly considered whatever it was Damian was being given nothing worse than a nuclear bomb.

"Look," said Dudley sensing her apprehension "it's nothing bad - I mean there was a time when I was younger when I would have thought it was bad but I definitely don't now, it just shocked me was all, so um yeah open it up," he finished rather lamely.

Not sure how to react to this puzzling statement Damian took the letter cautiously off his father. Examining it he saw that the letter was indeed addressed to him. Opening it up, he read the letter:

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry _

_Dear Mr. Dursley,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been allocated a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term commences on the First of September. Transportation to Hogwarts will be via the Hogwarts express leaving from platform nine and three-quarters at Kings Cross station on the above date at 11 O'clock._

_Yours Sincerely_

_Professor Garow _

_Deputy Headmaster_

Damian looked up to his father waiting for the punch line, not that Dudley Dursley was known for his sense of humour but surely this had to be a joke nothing this ridiculous could be true. But his father did not appear to be holding in a belly laugh in fact he looked stone cold sober.

"Well what is it? His mother asked expectantly.

"Damian is," began his father before taking a rather unnecessarily long pause "a wizard," he finished, promptly sitting down clearly feeling that such an explanation would suffice.

"He's a what?" His mother exclaimed.

Damian was sure she would soon start pinching herself to check this wasn't a bad dream.

"He's a wizard," his father repeated "And he's just been accepted into Hogwarts."

"What is this nonsense Dudley?"

"How did you know that's what it said Dad?"

"This is not nonsense. I swear on Damian's life that he is a wizard. And the reason Damian that I know what that letter said is because I saw one myself about 25 years ago. I promise you I am not lying to you or teasing you and I have definitely not gone mad."

"That is still up for debate," said his mother.

But Damian could tell from the look in his father's eye he was telling the truth. As crazy and unbelievable as it sounded his father was telling the truth. He really was a wizard.

Despite her outburst even his mother seemed to have reluctantly accepted it. "Please explain," she said. Clearly she was not going to let his father off that easily.

"Okay I'll try but I don't know much about it Harry's going to have explain most of it."

"Who's Harry," Damian only knew two people called Harry, one of whom was his mum's boss and the other was his uncle who had come to visit once when he was younger and had seemed rather peculiar. Well neither of them seemed like they would be a great authority on wizards.

"Your uncle Harry Potter is a wizard and I think it's about time he paid us another visit."


	2. Chapter 2 Him

**Chapter 2 Him **

Three days later and Damian again found himself sitting on his bed feeling extremely frustrated. He had initially been abuzz with excitement at his new found discovery. He was a wizard, a real proper wizard. So many things started to make sense to him. This was the reason why he had always felt so out of place, this was the part of him that had been missing.

A whole world of exciting possibilities opened up to him. With excitement he imagined himself flying around on a broomstick, casting powerful spells. However, these grand plans were promptly put on hold when he realised he had very little idea of what being a wizard actually meant. Did they even have wands? Damian was full of questions but his father was being spectacularly unhelpful. Other than confirming magic was real and that Damian's uncle Harry was a wizard, his father had seemed reluctant to answer anything. In fact for someone who claimed to have spent the first seventeen years of his life living with wizard he seems to know surprisingly little about the world of magic or indeed Harry Potter.

Damian suspected his father was being deliberately coy about his childhood experiences with Uncle Harry, which only increased his desire to meet this one link into the world of magic. Growing up he had never been told much about his Uncle. In fact Harry Potter wasn't technically his uncle but since Damian didn't have any actual Uncles his Dad had always referred to Harry as an Uncle. His father had always told him Uncle Harry had an unspecified job working for the government that kept him very busy, something which both Damian and his mother had accepted without question. They received a Christmas card from the Potters every year and Damian received a yearly birthday card with ten pounds in it but other than that there had been very little contact with Uncle Harry. He had once paid them a visit when he was very young but other than considering his Uncle slightly strange Damian struggled to recall it.

It seemed unlikely though that he was going to be able to see his Uncle any time soon. When his father had first suggested getting the only wizard in the family to explain the world of magic to him it had seemed a very sensible idea. However, instead of phoning Uncle Harry his Father thought it more appropriate to send a letter. Whilst Damian considered this a bit pointless he figured that maybe wizards didn't like phones but his father then decided instead of writing an address on the envelope to just write his Uncles name. Damian was unimpressed but apparently that was how his father had always contacted Uncle Harry. Perhaps Wizards didn't need addresses on their letters but Damian was not convinced, after all it wasn't the postmen that had magic powers. What with this and his father's nerves regarding any question Damian asked about his childhood or Uncle Harry, Damian was sceptical that he would ever get to meet his mysterious Uncle again.

Damian was distracted from his thoughts by two slow knocks on the door. As his Mum never bothered to knock on the door Damian didn't need to be a genius to work out who it was. "Hey Dad," he said, struggling to inject any enthusiasm into his grumpy mood.

The door was pulled back to reveal his father. Time had been kind to Dudley; ten years of amateur boxing had bestowed on him a muscular physique that most men could only dream of. Even now with the onset of middle age fast approaching he cut an imposing figure and his large frame took up most of the door.

"Look Damian I wanted to talk to you for a second," his father said "As you might have noticed I haven't exactly been too forthcoming replying to your questions."

"Really I hadn't noticed," said Damian before realising with horror that he had sounded exactly like his Mum at her most sarcastic.

"Alright don't give me the Sarah Dursley treatment," his father replied with a grin on his face "I just want to explain why I've avoided telling you certain things."

"Okay," said Damian unsure where this was leading.

"You know Harry came to live with me and your Grandparents because his parents died when he was baby?"

"Um yeah," Damian had indeed heard this story before.

Dudley gave a cautious nod and Damian noticed his father seemed slightly agitated, almost as though he was nervous. "Well your Grandparents weren't exactly happy about this. To be honest they hated him and treated him like total garbage whilst treating me like I was King of the world." His father, not a man known for his communication skills, said this very quickly as though it was a bad memory he was trying to rush through.

Damian had never heard the story quite like this before, he knew full well his grandparents didn't approve of Uncle Harry but to actually find out they hated him was shocking. Taking another look at his father Damian realised that his top lip was actually quivering. Though a man of few words his father had always emitted a calm confidence and to see that now broken shocked Damian.

His father continued speaking "They always knew his parents were a witch and a wizard but they covered it up, and even when he found out by getting a letter like you did, they kicked up an almighty fuss. Eventually they let him go but told all the neighbours he went to some school for criminally insecure boys."

"So that's why he never comes here to visit, it must bring up too many bad memories," said Damian, feeling as though he was starting to understand things a little better.

"Actually no, he doesn't come here because it brings up too many bad memories for me. I'm embarrassed about how Harry suffered here.

"But you shouldn't be embarrassed Dad, it wasn't your fault Grandma and Grandpa were like that."

If Damian thought this would placate his father he was mistaken. The former boxer's right hand still clinging to the door handle like a safety net, tightened further, the whites of his knuckles now clearly defined.

"But that's just it, I treated him like crap as well, I caused him to suffer just as much as they did, I...I was a bully."

His father wore such a look of shame that Damian was temporarily lost for words. His father was a kind and gentle man, a man he respected and looked up to above all others, he just couldn't believe he used to be a bully.

Continuing speaking Dudley looked his son straight in the eye "How I treated Harry is my deepest regret, I would do anything to be able to change the way I behaved."

"So what made you change the way you thought about him," asked Damian finally breaking his silence.

"Just before I started my fifth year at school I had a terrible experience. I don't want to talk about exactly what happened," he said before Damian could ask what the experience had been. "Suffice to say it was pretty awful and it made me revaluate my life. It didn't happen overnight mind but eventually I came to realise I wasn't the person I wanted to be and I guess I changed my ways. So I suppose you must pretty much hate me now," his Dad said sighing.

Damian thought about it for a moment. He could easily justify being mad with his Dad, after all Damian himself had suffered at the hands of bullies. But as he looked up into his father's watery blue eyes he quickly found that he didn't care what his Dad had been like when he was younger. Damian knew the man standing in front of him, knew he was a good person and believed him when said he regretted his behaviour.

"Of course I don't hate you," said Damian laughing "look I can't say I'm not shocked but look you were just acting how your parents taught you, as soon as you started to think for yourself you started to change."

Relief swept over his father's face "Really, honestly you've no idea how pleased I am to hear you say that Damian, I was so worried about what you'd think about me if Harry told you."

"Dad relax, you're a good person, anyway it doesn't look like Uncle Harry's going to bother turning up."

"Ah yes I forgot to mention that," his father said as he began to head for the door "He just replied to my letter he's going to be here in five minutes.

Damian eagerly followed his father out of the door and made his way downstairs. He could feel his heart beating slightly faster which he told himself was silly, it was only one of his own family members who was coming to visit. But he was so eager to find out more about magic and Hogwarts and even more practical information like where he could buy his school equipment. He somehow doubted that Tesco sold cauldrons or wands, well not real ones anyway.

He was woken from his thoughts by the sound of the Dursley's old fashioned door bell beginning to ring. His mother strode over to the door, a look of mild apprehension on her face. Damian thought she had done rather well to hold herself together the last few days. After all it probably wasn't easy to find out your son's a wizard and your husband grew up with a wizard all in one day.

"Mr. Potter, welcome to our home."

"Sarah, lovely to meet you again," replied Harry ignoring the rather formal tone Sarah Dursley had set. He walked into the living room and went straight to shake Dudley's hand.

"Great to see you Big D," said Harry grinning.

Dudley appeared to have recovered from his conversation with Damian as his smile matched his cousin's "Harry, thanks so much for coming."

"Not a problem, although I'm afraid I can only give you the rest of my lunch break." Harry at last turned to face Damian "Wow Damian I can't believe how much you've grown since I last saw you," he said.

Looking him up and down Damian couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. Standing in front of him was a man in his late thirty's, rather skinny with head of floppy jet black hair, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Although Damian could roughly remember his Uncles appearance from his last visit he had somehow expected someone more ...well impressive.

"Not quite what you were expecting," said Harry his eyes twinkling under his glasses.

"What, no...not at all, it's great to see you again," Damian stuttered.

"Don't worry about it," said Harry laughing "I expect you were imagining someone who looked more wise and powerful, maybe with a staff and a long grey beard."

"Maybe a bit," admitted Damian feeling rather embarrassed now.

"Well I'm sorry you got stuck with me, I had a half giant come to tell me about Hogwarts."

"Oh god, don't remind me," his father said, clutching his bottom as he did.

"There are giants?" His mother shrieked.

"Oh don't worry about Hagrid he couldn't hurt a fly," said Harry, though Damian noticed his father didn't look like he entirely agreed with this statement.

"Anyway, let's all sit down so Harry can try and answer some of Damian's questions," said his father leading the group into the sitting room "so Damian what did you want to ask Harry?"

Damian felt three pairs of eyes all focus on him and found that after three days of frustration he couldn't actually think what to ask, he didn't know where to begin."

"Well let's start with the basics," said Harry sensing his confusion "There are magical people and creatures all over the world. We use magic to keep ourselves hidden from non magical people who we call muggles. We have our own shops, towns, schools and even our own government."

Damian was stunned. He'd never stopped to consider the bigger picture of the magical world. He'd only been thinking about himself and he'd never have guessed at how organised Wizards appeared to be.

"Wizards are actually like muggles in most respects we just use magic to help us do things. The school you're going to is Hogwarts. It's the only wizarding School in the country and I can guarantee you're going to have the time of your life there," said Harry finishing with a large grin on his face. "So, any questions?"

"How come I'm a wizard if neither Mum or Dad are?" said Damian. It was something he hadn't considered before but now he thought of it, it did seem rather strange.

"Sometimes magic skips a few generations but don't worry being muggle born it in no way limits your potential as a Wizard."

Well that was relief thought Damian although he did wonder how easy it would be to catch up with the other children. After all surely living in the Wizarding world for eleven years must give them a bit of head start.

"Anything else," said Harry.

"Is magic dangerous?" His mother's eyes bore down dangerously at Harry. This was clearly the only question she wanted answering.

Harry flashed a grin of understanding at Damian. "That's a difficult question to answer. Magic is as dangerous as the person holding the wand."

Damian suspected that wasn't answer his mother had wanted to hear but before she could make a comment Harry was standing up.

"I'm really sorry but I'm afraid I need to get back to work it's been a crazy day so far."

"That's fine thank you so much for coming out," said Dudley.

"I'm sorry I can't answer any more of your questions but I'm going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get my daughters supplies for Hogwarts. Maybe Damian could come along and I could help get him sorted and answer a few more questions for him."

"Awesome," said Damian.

"That sounds like a great idea," agreed his mother.

"Well that's settled then," said Harry.

"Um before you go," began Damian nervously "do you think I could see some magic." He said the last part very quickly and was sure his Uncle was going to refuse, tell him that of course he couldn't as he had much more important things to do than impress an eleven year old child. But Harry Potter grinned, reached into his pocket and pulled out a wand. Pointing it at the open patio door he smiled.

"_Expecto Patronum"_

A white stag appeared to leap from his wand and galloped away into the garden. Damian was awestruck by the majestic image of the creature. Harry looked at the three of them who were all staring at him open mouthed. "Nine O'clock tomorrow," he said and then with a faint _pop_ he was gone.

No one spoke for a moment before Damian suddenly remembered something "So Dad what did that giant do to you?"


	3. Chapter 3 Diagon Alley

**Chapter 3 Diagon Alley**

Damian opened the door early the next day to find Harry Potter waiting outside. "So how are we getting there?" he asked "Broomsticks?" he added rather hopefully.

Harry started laughing "No something entirely more conventional I'm afraid."

And so with some disappointment Damian was led away to a very old Vauxhall Corsa. Getting into the back of the car he found himself sitting next to a very small red headed girl who looked roughly the same age as him, Damian assumed this must be his Uncle's daughter.

"Hey second cousin nice to meet you I'm Lily, you must be so excited about today, I know I am and I've been to Diagon Alley hundreds of times. I can't wait to show you Uncle George's and Fortesques and ..."

"Lily let him breathe," said a voice from the front of the car. Damian turned to see a woman in the front of the car who looked like an identical grown up version of the girl he was sitting next to.

"I'm Ginny, Harry's wife," the women said, smiling kindly at him "And this is our daughter Lily Luna Potter."

"Right then folks lets go," said Harry starting up the engine.

As they approached the motorway Damian glanced out of the window and saw trees and houses zip past. He had a slight suspicion that they were travelling a lot faster than would have been reasonably possible from the average 20 year old Corsa. He wondered what his Grandparents would have made of it, even their Jaguar didn't go this fast.

He sat back and relaxed as he listened to Lily tell him more about the wizarding world. He learnt more about Hogwarts and what they would be taught there and he was fascinated to hear about the numerous magical animals that inhabited the country. He couldn't believe he'd lived amongst dragons and giants without knowing about it. He also enjoyed Lily's company, after she'd calmed down from her initial overexcitement he had found they got on really well. She too was starting Hogwarts in September and was the last in her family to go as both her older brothers had already been there for one and two years respectively. They would apparently be meeting them there later as they were helping out at a joke shop their uncle owned. Damian found the idea of a wizard joke shop frankly ridiculous but was still very much looking forward to seeing it.

"So you really had no idea you were a wizard?" asked Lily after a pause in the conversation.

"Nope, none at all. Even Dad had no idea despite growing up with Uncle Harry." Damian noticed Ginny purse her lips at the mention of his Uncle's childhood.

"I expect you may have accidentally done magic before," said Harry. "Most young witches or wizards produce some kind of magic, especially when emotions are running high. Sometimes it can even be quite powerful."

"I managed to levitate my brother over our garden fence when I was still in a cot," said Lily proudly.

"I'm still pretty sure that wasn't an accident," said Harry.

Damian thought back to all the strange things that had happened to him throughout his life. If he had accidently used magic it would certainly make sense. He wondered if he could blame once forgetting to wear his trousers into school on accidental magic, he suspected in this case it was just him being remarkably forgetful.

"Here we are then," said Harry pulling the car into a side road.

"But...we couldn't possibly have got here this quickly."

"Well I do know a man who just loves to fix cars," said Harry grinning to his wife and confirming Damian's earlier suspicion. "So Damian, are you ready for the Diagon Alley experience."

"Let's do it," said Damian eagerly.

After some funny business involving tapping a wall with Harry's wand and walking through an unknown man's pub they made it to Diagon Alley. After it had been given such a build up Damian was fully prepared to feel let down once he stepped on to the Alley, however, he was not disappointed. Never before had he seen such vibrancy and colour in one place. As they started to wander down the busy cobbled street he could see something new in every direction. From exploding fireworks to flying broomsticks each shop seemed to contain something more interesting and surreal than the last.

"Right then," said Harry bringing them to a stop. "Let's get the boring stuff out the way first."

Somehow Damian doubted that any of the shops here could be considered boring. Nevertheless as they made their way to Forester's bookshop Lily started to moan to her mother about wanting to check out brooms.

Despite Harry's warning Damian still found he quite enjoyed his time in the bookshop, it was interesting to see all the areas of study that were possible although he was rather alarmed to be attacked by one of the books he had attempted to read. His uncle laughed this off, suggesting it was Hagrid having a sense of humour. Apparently the same half giant who had made his father fear for the safety of his bottom also taught Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts. Damian was relieved to hear this wasn't a subject you had the option of taking until your third year.

By the time they stopped for lunch he had been kitted out with most of his school supplies as well as his school robes, not something he had enjoyed trying on in the heat that the sun had for once blessed Britain with that summer. They did not seem the most practical of clothing but were apparently the norm for witches and wizards, he supposed it was a small price to pay for getting to use a wand and a broomstick.

Harry had selected a small cafe away from the hustle and bustle of the main street. Damian wasn't sure what to make of wizard food. It was certainly interesting and judging from his squid soup, erratic. Every mouthful he had taken had given him a different taste and whilst the nicer tastes had certainly been pleasant the last spoonful had left a rather sour taste in his mouth. Lily had been rather unsympathetic only offering him some sweets that had the same tendencies as the soup. So his sour taste had soon been replaced by one of bogies which was not quite the improvement he had been looking for.

Glancing up from his pumpkin juice Damian noticed a small crowd seemed to have gathered outside the cafe and were excitedly pointing towards him. Wondering what wizarding etiquette he could possibly have broken to cause such a reaction he turned to Lily.

She grimaced "Ah yes we forget to tell you this might happen."

"What, what did I do," said Damian, a note of panic in voice.

"Oh don't worry love it's not you,' said Ginny.

"It's me, I'm kind of famous," said Harry simply. His expression indicated this was not a fact he was particularly pleased with.

"Oh," said Damian realisation dawning on him "So what are you famous for?"

"Oh nothing much, the papers have all blown it out of proportion to be honest."

"Harry don't be so silly." His wife snorted, a look of derision on her face "The reason he is famous is because he saved the world from the most evil and powerful wizard that has ever existed."

"Yeah we'll probably be learning all about it at school" said Lily miserably. Clearing this wasn't something she was looking forward to.

Wow, thought Damian, he had really misjudged his Uncle. When Harry had first come round to his house Damian had barely believed he was a wizard now it turned out he was some kind of super wizard saviour.

"Look Damian, I suppose I did technically save everyone, and as much as it embarrasses my daughter you probably will be learning about it at school but just please bear in mind I really am just a regular guy and I really didn't sign up for any of this," he said, scowling at the crowd that had already starting to increase in numbers. "It's always worse this time of year just before all the new kids start school. Anyway since my cover's blown looks like you two are going to have to finish up by yourselves." He did not look very pleased about this. "We'll meet you in the Leaky Cauldron at four o'clock. One minute late and neither of you will be going to Hogwarts."

By three thirty Damian had made the best two purchases of the day so far. First they had gone to the pet shop where he had bought himself a magnificent striped owl he had named Irwin and then they had made their way to Ollivander's to buy their wands. A rather creepy old man who looked like he was on his last legs had greeted them. He had at first expressed his disappointment that Harry was not with them but had soon set about finding them both a wand. Lily had taken five attempts to find a wand that suited her. Apparently the wand would choose the wizard, it seemed a rather scattergun approach to Damian and he was sure the man was just randomly picking up wands.

He had then nervously waited for Mr. Ollivander to find him a wand but he need not have worried for the first wand that was placed in his hand had been the right one.

"I knew it," squeaked Mr. Ollivander "I knew I had the right one for you. Twelve and a half inch oak wand made from unicorn hair. Absolutely perfect."

Damian was happy to admit that he had been wrong, the old man certainly knew his wands. As soon as the wand had touched his hand Damian had known there was something special about it, he could instantly feel the magic flowing through. He looked down at his wand and smiled. It felt odd to seem so connected to such an object but holding it now it already felt like a part of his own body.

So, carrying all the things that they had needed to buy, they made their way to the joke shop of which Damian had heard so much. As they got closer to the shop Damian saw that it actually had a closed sign hanging from the door and two boys were sitting on the floor outside in animated conversation. They jumped their feet at the sight of Lily approaching. At a guess Damian would have put both boys at a few years older than him and Lily. He was struck by how different they looked; one was stocky and black, the other skinny and white with a mop of jet black hair that reminded Damian very much of his Uncle.

"What have you two done now," said Lily, an air of exasperation in her voice.

"Us, do something, how dare you make such an accusation little sister," said the boy who was obviously one of Lily's older brothers.

"Yeah Lily how dare you. When have we ever been anything other than kind, charming and responsible," said the other boy.

"Umm, how about all the time," said Lily.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from my own sister," her brother said with mock indignation.

"So what did happen then?" she asked them.

"Well me and James were hard at work."

"Working as hard as a house elf we were."

"When suddenly some fireworks start going off and the place is on fire."

"Nothing to do with us of course, we were busy working."

"No nothing at all to do with us, I mean we might have had a small firework fight but I'm sure that had nothing to do with fire."

Lily burst out with laughter "Oh of course not, absolutely nothing to do with you"

Damian was torn between roaring with laughter and attempting to work out why two boys who looked so different could finish each other's sentences as though they were twins.

"Anyway aren't you going to introduce us," Lily's brother asked.

"James, Fred, this is Damian Dursley. Damian, this is my idiot cousin Fred Weasley and my idiot brother James Sirius Potter. Pranksters and troublemakers in chief of Hogwarts."

"Dursey. Well I didn't see that one coming, still, hope to see you in Gryffindor in September," said James.

"Ah yes, new students what fun," said Fred with a worryingly maniacal glint in his eye.

"Well, we'd best help with the clear up, see if Uncle George has calmed down," said James wearily.

"Yeah we'll have to make it up him."

"Maybe we could get him that toilet seat he's always wanted."

"Right then, see you in September Damian, take it easy," said Fred as both boys went through the shop door, from which Damian could see an array of different coloured flames and smoke.

"Are they going to be alright," he asked, not so sure he'd have been able to walk so casually into a shop that was on fire.

"Oh yes, Uncle George is used to this kind of thing happening especially where my brother and Fred are concerned."

"How come there so..."

"Similar," said Lily "Yeah everyone says so. I'm not sure really. They've always been really good friends, I think they play up to it a bit though. Fred's Dad used to have a twin so I think he likes seeming them together. Don't worry about them though, they're a bit mental but they're a lot of fun. Anyway let's start heading back to the Leaky Cauldron, I bet Dad's going to die of shock when he sees we're early.

As they started making their way back along the street manoeuvring themselves between throngs of shoppers Damian remembered something James had said. "Lily what's Gryffindor?"

"Ah yes Gryffindor, for the noble and brave. It's a school house," she added seeing his confusion.

"So how many houses are there?"

"There's ...oh crap, I think I've dropped my purse, wait here I'll be back in a sec."

Lily turned around and ran back in the direction they had come from leaving Damian by himself. He was standing near some of the market traders so with some time to kill he decided to see what goods were on offer.

"You sir, you look like you're on the lookout for a bargain." Damian took a suspicious look at the first trader he came to. "One broom handling kit. Five knuckles, no questions asked."

Quickly concluding that there were just as many dodgy individuals in the wizarding world as there were in the muggle world, Damian wandered further down the street examining the other market stools. Looking at some fancy quills he was surprised when he heard a voice coming from the other side of the alley. "Come here boy."

Damian looked around to see who had called out. Puzzled he spotted an old woman who strangely appeared to be beckoning him over. Intrigued he wandered over to her. She was sat behind a withered old table with a strange assortment of objects on it. "Do you wish to see what the future holds for you boy?"

Taking a long look at her Damian concluded she looked rather like the stereotypical witches he had seen on TV. She had long wild grey hair, wore a ragged cloak and even had a slightly croaked hat. Judging from the rest of the market traders he had met Damian was not convinced that witch fortune tellers would be any more reliable than the ones fake ones he'd met in the circus's his Dad used to take him. Everything was telling him to walk away from her but he was curious.

"Are you real," said Damian bluntly.

The witch gave him a curious look "Why would you think I'm not real. Do you regularly imagine things?"

Damian was caught off guard by her sardonic tone "That's not what I meant. Is what you do real? Can you really read the future?"

"No one really knows what the future will hold. I see glimpses, some more important than others."

"So do you know what's going to happen to me," said Damian, still not convinced.

"Why don't you take a seat and I'll show you."

Damian stayed where he was.

"The reason most witches and wizards avoid people like me is not because they don't believe in what I say, but because they're scared. Scared that they're not in control of their own destiny. You see, if I already know what's going to happen to someone, then they wonder what the point is in going through life. But, if there's one thing I know about you Damian Dursley, it's that you're no coward, so why don't you take a seat."

Damian stared at the witch "How do you even know my name?" he said quietly.

The witch's forehead of wrinkles scrunched up as she frowned "Maybe I had a vision, maybe I researched it as part of some elaborate trick or maybe it's just something I happen to know. It doesn't really matter, all that matters is you sitting down and letting me show you something about your future."

It wasn't an order but Damian felt strangely compelled to follow the instruction. He didn't know what to make of the old witch. Crazy, deranged or just a fraud, Damian wasn't sure but for some reason he wanted to find out.

He took a determined step forward and sat down opposite the witch "Okay count me in."

"Very good." A smile finally showed on the witch's face. "Now place your hands on the table," she said.

Damian did as she had asked. The witch lifted her own hands up, Damian noticed the hard lines etched into them, and placed them on top of his. Nothing happened at first and Damian thought for a moment that this had all been a terrible joke, but then suddenly he was no longer in Diagon Alley, no longer even if in London, in fact Damian didn't know where he was.

The first thing he saw was himself. A sensation he could only describe as very weird. The other him was walking down a torch lit corridor clutching his wand very tightly and looked on edge. Sweat was pouring down him and he was looking panickedly from side to side.

Damian was confused. This was more than a vision he was actually here physically witnessing something "Umm hello," he called out.

He was rather relieved not to receive a response, feeling fairly certain that however unusual this day had become he would not under any circumstances be able to cope with a conversation with another version of himself.

Vision or not whatever was happening seemed real enough even if he couldn't interact with anyone it in. Damian took another look at the other him. He appeared similar enough, same clothes, same walk, same look, although maybe he was imagining it, but Damian thought the other him looked slightly older. As the witch had told him this was meant to be his future, he supposed this was to be expected, although it clearly wasn't a very distant future. What worried Damian though wasn't his age but his demeanour. The Damian he was seeing looked simply terrified. His eyes constantly darting around, searching for some unknown terror ahead.

The other him continued walking, making his way down the corridor. Damian followed a step behind, staring curiously at everything around him. At last he saw a room ahead lit up. The other Damian saw it too and edged cautiously into it before coming to an abrupt stop. Wondering why he had stopped Damian ran to catch up. Entering the room next to his body double Damian quickly realised why. A man he didn't recognise was laying face up on the floor, his pale body surrounded by a pool of dark red blood. The man was dead.

As the vision began to fade Damian looked into the dead man's eyes. His expression was one of pain. Pain and hatred.

Damian opened his eyes to find himself lying on the cold hard floor of Diagon Alley. He looked up to see the three Potters standing over him. He could see the worry and concern showing in their faces but all he could think of was his vision. Why had he seen himself alone with a dead man and a pool of blood?

"Damian what happened, are you alright?" Harry crouched down next to his nephew.

"I'm fine," said Damian struggling up into a seated position. "I just..." He looked around for the old witch but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Just what Damian?" Harry looked closely into Damian's eyes searching for some sign of trouble.

"Nothing, nothing I must have just fainted. Sorry, I didn't mean to cause any problems." Damian hoped his story was more convincing than it sounded. Harry looked sceptical but said nothing.

"C'mon Damian let's get you inside with a warm drink," said Ginny, her face had become significantly paler highlighting each freckle.

Damian let Harry help him up, ignoring the dizziness he encountered as he got to his feet. As he followed the Potters back to the pub they had started their day at, Damian glanced back to the empty spot the where the witch had sat. He wondered briefly if he'd imagined the whole thing. In fact he very much hoped he had.

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><p><strong>AN Thanks to everyone who's read the story so far and thank you for the kind reviews.**


	4. Chapter 4 The Last Day Of Summer

**A bit of a short chapter today so I'll try and get the next one up as soon as possible. Thanks again to everyone who's been reading.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 The Last Day Of Summer<strong>

It was the 31st of August and Damian was sat on top of the hill that looked over Hawkesbury Upton, enjoying the view of his village. He ignored the wet bum the moist grass had given him and watched the last rays of the afternoon sun beat down on the village.

It had always been Damian's favourite spot, not only did he enjoy the view but it was a place to relax for him. Relaxing though was the one thing Damian was unable to do right now. He was going to Hogwarts tomorrow so he should have been excited, but he wasn't, he was worried, just as he'd been worried these last few weeks. Damian had always been a worrier. He was aware it wasn't an attractive quality but it was just who he was. Some people would float through life like a butterfly caught in the wind. Others would concern themselves with every aspect of life convinced something somewhere was going to go wrong for them. Damian was definitely a member of the latter group. And the events of Diagon Alley had certainly worried him, he just couldn't get the vision the old witch had shown him out of his mind. Whatever else Damian tried to focus on, his thoughts kept returning to the dead man. Those stone cold eyes staring up blanking at him. It was all he could think about. It panicked him during the day and it kept him awake at night.

Upon his return from Diagon Alley Damian had done his best to dismiss the incident, to pretend it hadn't happened. Deep down though he knew it meant something. What that something was he couldn't say. The old witch had said it was his future, but could his future really involve meeting a dead man. Damian shuddered at the thought. He just had to hope it wasn't real, that was all he could do right now.

His parents had noticed something was wrong with him as soon as he had come home but despite a few arguments he had refused to say what had been bothering him. They'd assumed he'd just been overwhelmed by his first trip into the magical world. Considering his mother had found one of his new school books that had compared the merits of werewolves and fire breathing dragons, Damian was unsurprised they had taken this view. In truth he was happy to let them think this as he had no desire to discuss what had really happened. He hadn't even told his Uncle the full truth of what happened. Once the Potter's had taken him back to the pub he had kept to his story of just having fainted.

He didn't know why he'd decided to withhold this information but he just didn't feel like sharing such a shocking possible future with people he'd only just properly met the day before. It was almost that sharing it would make it seem real and that was the one thing he wanted to avoid doing. He wasn't sure his Uncle had really believed him but after making sure Damian was alright he hadn't questioned him further and had allowed him to stay quiet the whole journey back.

Damian tried once again to put the whole thing out of his mind and concentrate on happier thoughts. Soon he was going to be at Hogwarts learning how to be a wizard and more than that it was a chance to start afresh. He'd get to try new things and hopefully make some friends.

Glancing at his watch, Damian realised with a jolt that he was soon going to be late for tea. Hoping to avoid getting on the wrong side of his mother on his last day at home, he quickly stood to his feet and staggered down the hill as fast as he could, doing his best to keep his balance on the rough ground. Out of breath and sweating profusely he made it to the bottom of the hill in record time. Not stopping to recover, Damian pushed his way through a rusty old gate that led to the road home.

He'd only made it a few steps when he saw something that made his heart drop.

"Well, well, what have we got here lads."

Damian turned to see John Costello standing in front of him. He was everything Damian was not; tall, slim, attractive with short black hair and a strong jaw line. Every part of him despised Costello who had made the last seven years at school absolute hell for Damian. He had never really understood why Costello appeared to hate him so much. They should have been friends really, the only two young boys in a small village but Costello had mercilessly teased Damian from the first moment they met. He took every opportunity to encourage his gang to beat him up and his nasty habit of being able to weasel his way out of trouble only increased Damian's dislike of him.

It was strange really, Costello wasn't a natural bully. Most people who met him came away with the impression they'd just met a charming young man. He was a popular boy and a top student, consequently teachers and parents had always tended to turn a blind eye to the occasional beatings he used to give out.

Damian felt his arms tense up but there was nothing he could do as two of Costello's gang pinned him back against the gate.

"Look just what the hell is your problem, I'm going to a new school tomorrow so I'll be out of your way for good," said Damian as he struggled against his two captors, not Costello of course he was never one to get his hands dirty.

"Well, we'll just have to give you a leaving present then won't we," said Costello with a very smug look. "Something to remember me by."

Damian knew it was hopeless to resist, the boys pinning him back were even bigger than he was, with arms like tree trunks. He just couldn't believe he was in this situation only a day before he was due to leave for Hogwarts. If only his father could have taught him to box, but of course his mother had disallowed that, saying she couldn't imagine any situation where punching someone was a good outcome. Damian felt now was most likely one of those situations.

If only they knew he was a wizard they wouldn't dare do this. One swipe of his wand and he could have got rid of them all. Damian wished he was home, he couldn't believe he'd let himself walk into this, frustration washed over him. As he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable blows that would come, he thought of his house and wondered what his parents were doing at the moment. He wished intently he could be in the house with them. He opened his eyes and to his surprise found himself lying on the floor of his house feeling rather queasy.

Looking back his only regret was that he hadn't been able to see the look of astonishment and outrage that he was sure must have been placed on John Costello's face. Damian had no idea how he'd done it. He'd actually managed to move his body from one place to another. From Damian's limited reading of his school text books he was fairly sure that wasn't a normal thing to do. He assumed it had been the accidental magic his Uncle had been talking about. In truth though he didn't much care how it had happened, it had got him away from Costello, that was all that mattered. Maybe this magic thing would be okay after all thought Damian. Certainly anything that could give him a quick escape route from Costello couldn't be all bad.

The afternoon's events had put Damian in an upbeat mood which came as a relief to his parents. This meant that he was able to avoid the 'You don't have to go to Hogwarts if you don't want to speech,' that he was sure had been coming his way. In fact he was suddenly very much looking forward to Hogwarts. His accidental use of magic had helped to ease some of his doubts about how he was going to cope when he got to Hogwarts.

Despite his Uncle's reassurances Damian had still not been totally convinced at how easy muggles would find learning magic. But after his escape from Costello, Damian was filled with confidence, he'd even forgotten about the witch's vision.

Damian spent the rest of the afternoon sitting at the dining room table trying to repeat his earlier feat. His subsequent attempts, however, proved much less fruitful. Concentrating with all his will, he found himself unable to move as much as an inch. In fact the only thing he had been able to achieve was to give himself a bad headache and scare his mother. Regardless of this failure he was still feeling much more confident about tomorrow's adventure than he had been previously.

Walking into his room at the end of the day he noticed a new owl in his room holding a letter for him. Tearing it open he saw it was a short note from his second cousin.

_Damian, how's it going? Excited about tomorrow, I can't wait. Dad says he'll meet you at the station and walk you through to the platform. See you tomorrow _

_Love Lily_

Damian smiled. It was actually happening, he was really going to Hogwarts. After packing the last of his bags for the next day, he scribbled a quick reply to Lily and climbed into his bed. He was fully aware he wasn't going to get much sleep but for once it would be due to excitement not fear.


	5. Chapter 5 The Journey

**Hmm not too sure about that last chapter. Ah well, not much I can do now, so on with a chapter I do like :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 The Journey<strong>

As he had predicted, Damian woke up early the next day after only a few hours sleep. Not wishing to attempt to find a textbook to read from his tightly clamped bag, he had to endure watching Jeremy Kyle until his parents got up.

The clock seemed to move incredibly slowly for Damian that morning and by the time he sat down for breakfast he already felt as though several days had past. Nerves did not affect his appetite and in only a couple of minutes he polished off the fried breakfast that had placed in front of him.

"Chew your food, for goodness sake Damian."

"I did, I'm just a fast eater," said Damian innocently, giving his mother exactly the same answer as he did most days of the week. "Anyway you need to hurry up. I don't want to be late."

"Relax, we've got plenty of time," said his father, his face buried under that mornings paper.

Damian made no comment. He didn't want to relax, for all he knew trains only went to Hogwarts once a year.

"Look Damian, I've been meaning to talk," said his mother hesitantly. "It's just, this wizard thing, you don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"I want to do it," said Damian at once.

"It's just-"

"I want to do it," said Damian again.

"Are you sure?" said his mother doubtfully.

"Yes!" said Damian as loudly and firmly as he could.

"Umm Dudley." Damian's mother looked over to her husband for support but heard no reply for Dudley had lifted his paper even higher above his head and seemed to be concentrating intently on a column discussing the optimal colour to paint your shed.

"Fine," said his mother throwing her hands up in defeat. "We'd better get ready to go then."

As she walked out of the kitchen his father pulled back a corner of the paper and gave Damian a very deliberate wink. Damian chuckled to himself and followed his mother out of the room.

He knew he'd be coming back home in a few months time for Christmas but it was still a strange feeling when the family car finally peeled away from number 13 Bridgewell Drive. Pulling into Kings Cross station several hours later Damian couldn't help but compare the journey rather unfavourably to his last trip into London in Uncle Harry's supercharged Corsa. As they began to unload all of Damian's possessions his Uncle appeared from behind a pillar and walked over to them.

After his trip to Diagon Alley Damian had skimmed through his text books for any mention of Harry and had discovered that his Uncle's explanation of his fame had been rather modest. For Harry Potter was a wizarding legend and Damian felt glow of pride that this 'legend' had driven him to Diagon Alley and helped him choose his textbooks and was now about to walk through to platform 9 and 3/4 with him.

"So Damian, are you excited?" asked his Uncle.

"Can't wait," said Damian truthfully.

"I'll be honest Dudley if someone had told me twenty years ago that one day I'd be seeing your son off to Hogwarts I'd have laughed at them," said Harry turning towards Damian's father.

"You're not the only one," his father said grinning "I'd rather assumed that any wizard genes that had come into contact with my father would have been immediately wiped out."

"Maybe it came from his side of the family!" said Harry. At this, both men doubled up laughing, whilst Sarah Dursely forced out a rather uncomfortable smile. Whilst his mother had never stated outright that she disapproved, Damian had a feeling she was not entirely on board with the whole wizard thing. But then becoming a wizard had rather gone against her career plan for him becoming a merchant banker.

"Well we'd best say our goodbye's then," she said smiling down fondly at him.

Several hugs and kisses later and he was walking towards platform 9&3/4 with his Uncle. He had been told all about how to get to the platform from Lily but seeing the large solid wall in front of him for the first time, he hesitated.

"Don't worry Damian you'll be fine, do you want to go through at the same time as me," said Harry, looking down understandably at Damian.

"You know what, screw it!" He broke out into a run and charged head first into the wall.

"Ouch."

Damian had run through the wall at such a pace that he hadn't been able to slow down on the other side. He looked guiltily at the two girls he had run into and the pile of suitcases that were now on the floor.

"Watch where you're going," said the one of the girls crossly.

Damian looked closely at both girls. He assumed they must be sisters. Whilst they had both clearly made an effort to dress as differently as possible to one another there was no hiding the resemblance in their appearance. Both girls had the same wavy blond hair and golden brown eyes. The only major distinction that Damian could see was the most obvious, the girl that had spoken so crossly to him stood almost half a foot taller than her sister. Damian flinched under her glare. "Sorry," he said weakly. He quickly bent down to help pick up the suitcases.

"You could have hurt one of us you know," said the same girl. She had placed her hands on her hips and was staring down sternly at Damian.

Although the girl looked the same age as him she was several inches taller and Damian felt quite intimidated by her "Sorry," he said again. Damian could feel his face becoming increasingly red as embarrassment crept over him. He hastily got to work picking up the girls bags.

"Don't help him." Damian turned round to see that the other girl had bent down to help him and had earned the wrath of her sister. "This is his fault let him sort it out." She froze mid step before stepping back meekly behind the taller girl.

"C'mon Tina let's get out of here," said the bossy girl as soon as Damian had placed the last bag back on their trolley.

"I'm really sorry," called out Damian as he watched the girls make their way through the crowd to join a group of friends by the train. The platform was packed with students all saying their last goodbyes to their parents. It was so busy some people had to resort to manoeuvres more commonly seen on the rugby pitch to get their luggage through the crowd.

"Oi, are you going to stand there blocking the entrance all day."

He turned round to see his Uncle attempting to get his trolley through the wall. Muttering his apologies once again, Damian stepped to the side to let his Uncle through.

"You made it then," said Harry. Damian nodded, not entirely sure he'd just made the best first impression possible. "Well let's see if we can find the others.

Damian scanned the crowd to see if he could spot Lily but trying to find one person amidst a sea of bags, broomsticks and owls turned out to be too difficult.

"She's over there," said Harry indicating a large group of people to his left. As they approached the group Damian wondered if they had walked into a ginger convention for he was immediately swarmed by a sea of red heads.

"Damian you made it, we were getting worried," said a voice he recognised as Lily's. He glanced at his watch, it was 10.59 they had indeed pushed it a bit for time.

"Hurry up the train's leaving in a minute," one of the older red heads called out to the group. Goodbyes were immediately exchanged. Damian looked around awkwardly realising his parents probably should have come through with him.

"Damian." He looked up and saw it was Harry "Damian, if you ever want to discuss anything, anything at all, I'm only an owl away."

"Thanks," he mumbled quietly.

"It was really nice getting to know you at Diagon Alley and it's nice to see someone else has inherited my eyes."

It was the first time he'd really noticed it but looking up into Harry's eyes Damian saw they were the same piercing green eyes as his own.

"C'mon we need to find seats." He felt Lily grab his hand and start to move him towards the train. Harry's last goodbye was lost over the noise of the station.

Lily quickly found an empty apartment and along with one of Lily's relatives they sat down exhausted from carrying their bags on to the train. "Damian- Hugo, Hugo- Damian," Lily said lazily from her comfortable position lying on the seats.

Damian looked at the boy seated next to him, the colour of his hair and freckles clearly marked him out as one of Lily's relatives, though on closer inspection Hugo seemed to have he had a more ruffled look about him. He had messy curly hair and a dazed look that suggested he was half asleep. Damian was sure that if his mother had been there she would have described Hugo as looking like he'd been pulled through a hedge backwards "So you must be Lily's brother," he asked.

"Nope only her cousin but that's bad enough," said Hugo through squinted eyes.

"Oi shut it," said Lily throwing him an evil glance. "Yes as _dear_ Hugo points out we are unfortunately cousins, you're probably thinking of Albus."

Ah yes he could remember now, it was Albus and James who were the brothers. Judging from the rest of the group that were at the platform he was going to have a hard job remembering everyone in their family. "So are all your family in Gryffindor?" he asked. He knew from his text books that his Uncle had been in Gryffindor and both James and Fred had appeared to be.

"No it doesn't always work like that, I mean it's more likely but ultimately it's down to the individual. My brother Albus ended up in Slytherin and take Hugo's sister for example, she was the first Weasly in a couple of centuries not to be in Gryffindor," said Lily, sitting up straight in her seat for the first time.

"Yep Rosie properly broke the mould when she got sorted into Ravenclaw, mind you she always was the clever one," said Hugo.

"You can be just as clever when you put your mind to it," said Lily looking at him pointedly.

"What, I'm not clever," he said, skewing his face up in disgust at his cousin, as though this would clearly be the worst thing in the world.

"Whatever," sighed Lily, not hiding the exasperation from her voice. Damian guesses this was a discussion they'd had before.

"So Damian, what house do you think you're going be in," said Hugo changing the subject.

Truthfully he wasn't sure, from what he'd read about the four houses he didn't think he'd really fit into any of them. He clearly wasn't clever enough to be a Ravenclaw and he definitely wasn't brave enough to be a Gryffindor. The Slytherin's sounded a right evil lot and whatever he was he knew he wasn't evil. Maybe a loyal Hufflepuff but then he'd never really had many friends and he certainly had never been described as hard working. "Not sure really, hope I'm with you guys though."

"Me too."

"Me three."

They spent the rest of the journey chatting more about Hogwarts and eating sweets. Lily had also refused to allow James and Fred into the apartment claiming she had seen James packing dungbombs earlier that morning. Whatever dungbombs were Damian had no desire to find out. Their only visit came late in the afternoon when three girls knocked on the door. Damian recognised two of the girls immediately. They were the sisters he had knocked into only hours earlier. He tried to put the incident out of his mind but could already feel his face heating up.

The sister that had been so cross with him earlier was the first to step inside their compartment "Excuse me," she began "But are you Lily Potter."

"Umm yes," said Lily who appeared as confused as Damian by this question.

"As in Lily _Potter_," said the third girl stepping into the compartment leaving the other sister hovering nervously outside. Damian suspected she had not been keen to come along.

"Yes," said Lily.

"As in Harry Potter's daughter," said the same girl.

"Yes."

"As in Ginny Potter's daughter."

Lily glared at her "Yes."

"Oh my god you're so lucky."

"Yeah Lily you really are blessed," said Hugo.

The sarcasm in Hugo's voice was either not picked up on or ignored. "Anyway," said the first girl. "We were wondering if you'd like to sit with us. My name's Tanya and this is Annabel. Oh and that's my sister Tina," she said indicating the girl who had still yet to come into the compartment and if anything was edging further away from the door."

"No," said Lily, not bothering to offer an explanation.

"Why not," said Tanya.

"For several reasons but mainly because I don't like you."

Tanya looked at Lily with the same angry expression she had given Damian earlier that day. "I see." Turning on her heel she marched out of the compartment with Annabel and Tina trailing behind her.

"A bit harsh," said Damian.

"I don't see why," said Lily "You've got to be clear with muppet's like that."

"I'm not sure Lily, I'd sleep with eye open if I were you, that girl gave you a pretty mean look," said Hugo.

"Life would be so much simpler if Dad hadn't bothered saving everyone," said Lily sighing.

Before they knew it the train was soon pulling in to Hogwarts and they were scrambling to get changed in time. Stepping out of the train Damian got his first view of Hogwarts and he had to admit it was impressive. He could see the large castle glowing in the distance, its spirals leaping up seemingly endlessly into the clouds above.

"First years over here." A gruff voice with a distinctive West Country burr called out.

"Hagrid," said Lily.

"Hi there Lily, Hugo, great to see you. Right then all first years follow me to the boats."

Looking at Hagrid, Damian could see why his father would be intimidated for the man in front of him must have stood nearly eleven feet tall. Still, he supposed for a half giant Hagrid didn't look that scary.

Quite why the first years had to travel to the castle in boats was a mystery to Damian but while the rest of the school happily made their way to the castle on dry land, the first years were ordered to the school boathouse on the edge of the lake. He wondered if perhaps they had taken on a few too many students this year and were hoping to lose a few on the water. Judging from the strength of the waves he suspected this was a distinct possibility.

By the time they had got to the boats they discovered most seats had already been taken. Deciding they had to split up to find places Damian headed in the opposite direction to Lily and Hugo. He saw a space on the last boat and went to climb in "Room for one more?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh I don't know about that Dursley, we wouldn't want the boat to sink would we."

Damian stared in horror, through the gloom he saw John Costello sitting at the end of the boat with a mightily smug grin plastered across his face.

"What...what are you doing here," said Damian.

"Well I'm attempting to get to Hogwarts, why, what are you doing," said Costello casually, causing the two other boys in the boat to start sniggering stupidly.

"You've got to be kidding me, we're both wizards," said Damian, more to himself than anyone else in the boat.

"Yes I did always think it was a bit strange," said Costello yawning as he said it. "I mean two wizards from the same tiny village who went to the same muggle school."

"You mean you knew."

"Knew what," said Costello lazily.

"That I was a wizard."

"Of course, I mean you'd have to be pretty stupid not realise you were a wizard." This remark caused the other two boys in the boat to burst into absolute hysterics.

"And you never told me," said Damian through gritted teeth, as water sprayed up viciously from the lake.

"It must have slipped my mind."

So hard were the two boys now laughing that Damian wondered if they would be plunged into the lake or at the very least be in need of hospital treatment.

Just brilliant he thought, the one person I wanted to get away from more than any other and he follows me to Hogwarts. He sat for the rest of the journey in a miserable silence glaring at Costello and wishing he had got into a different boat.


	6. Chapter 6 Better be?

**Chapter 6** **Better be...?**

As soon as the boats docked Damian jumped out, keen to find Hugo and Lily and desperate to get as far away from Costello as possible.

"Wait here for the moment, Garrow's going to be out in a minute to bring all of yer in," Hagrid bellowed out.

Damian felt sick to the pit of his stomach. He just couldn't believe it could possibly be real. Costello couldn't have followed him to Hogwarts.

"Dude you look like a ghost." Recognising Hugo's voice Damian turned round to see him and Lily standing beside him.

"Seasick?" suggested Lily.

"What's your worst nightmare," asked Damian.

"Spiders," said Hugo immediately, shuddering at the thought of them.

"Umm all the teachers constantly talking about Dad in lessons, no wait, the teachers mistaking me for Mum," said Lily.

"That's a rubbish nightmare, at least mine's an actual thing," said Hugo.

"Oh shut up Hugo, being scared of spiders is nothing to be proud of," snapped Lily.

"Well anyway," said Damian interrupting his bickering friends "my worst nightmare's called John Costello and he's managed to follow me all the way from Hawkesbury Upton." He turned to point to Costello who had already managed to find himself five admirers who were spread around him in a circle listening intently to whatever he was telling them.

"Well I already don't like him," said Hugo.

"What, why not?" said Damian surprised.

"Meh, I trust your judgement," said Hugo shrugging.

"Yep, definitely looks like a complete jackass to me," said Lily nodding her head in agreement.

Damian felt real gratitude towards his new friends but was stopped from discussing it any further when the large oak doors to the castle swung opened with a bang. A small dark haired man appeared from behind the door, he took a moment to look over everyone before stepping forward to address the students.

"First Years, you have arrived at Hogwarts." Whilst he lacked height he did not lack authority for as soon as he started speaking everybody fell silent. "I am deputy headmaster Garrow and I am to escort you to the main Hall for sorting." It looked to Damian as though this was not a task he relished. "Follow me, there will be no need to speak."

Marching silently behind the professor the first years made their way into the main hall. When they finally got inside the building the first thing Damian noticed was the rest of the school. There were four long tables filled with students each presumably one of the houses and in front of them was the teachers table. Damian felt rather uncomfortable as all eyes in the hall turned to the first years, it was almost as though they were being put on show for the rest of the school.

As Damian looked further around the Great Hall he gasped in astonishment. As magical as Hogwarts had seemed from the outside it was even more wondrous on the inside. Floating candles and torches lit the whole room whilst ghosts floated serenely around it. Looking up Damian realised the hall's ceiling had been enchanted to look like the night sky at its most perfect.

"What are you staring at, anyone would think you'd never seen a ghost before," said Lily winking at him.

Garrow brought the group to a halt next to the teachers table "You will now be sorted into your houses, you will be in your chosen houses for the duration of your time in Hogwarts, however long or short that time maybe. To be sorted you will place the sorting hat on your head, when it has made its decision you will then join your new house and sit quietly with them until the sorting is over."

Even Professor Garrow's monotone voice could not force Damian to contain the excitement and nerves he was feeling. As his heart started to beat faster Damian felt his hands begin to clam up. Looking around him his fellow First Years didn't look too confident either. Many of them were staring at their feet and one particularly pale looking boy looked as though he might throw up.

"We will begin with George Bishop," said Garrow still looking as though he didn't want to be there.

A fair haired boy made his way nervously up to the sorting hat. His legs were shaking so much Damian wondered if he would actually make it to the hat upright. The boy did make it though and sitting straight down he placed the hat on his head which after thirty seconds bellowed out "HUFFLEPUFF" The boy looking relieved his ordeal was over quickly, scampered over to the Hufflepuff table who all cheered enthusiastically at his arrival.

After watching another nervous student get sorted into Ravenclaw without too many difficulties Damian began to think that maybe the whole thing wouldn't be too bad, although he wished they weren't being sorted alphabetically as he could have done with some more time to prepare.

"John Costello," said Garrow.

John Costello confidently strolled up to the sorting hat and placed it on his head. Damian had almost forgotten Costello, distracted by his nerves and new surroundings. He wondered if maybe there would still be a chance to avoid his nightmare. After a similar time period to the fair haired boy the hat shouted out "SLYTHERIN" John Costello looked neither pleased nor displeased with this but nodded acceptingly and walked smartly over to the cheering Slytherins.

As soon as the Slytherins had quietened down Blaine Durnell's name was called and he was promptly put in Gryffindor. Damian knew he must be up soon, his heart was racing and sure enough...

"Damian Dursley."

Time seemed to move slowly for Damian as he made his way to the hat, concentrating with all his might not to fall over. The hat was so big that once it was on his head he realised to his relief that he could no longer see all the watching students.

"Well Damian Dursley where shall I put you," said a small voice in his head "Difficult, very difficult."

Brilliant thought Damian even the hat doesn't know where I can go, I'm not going to be able to fit in anywhere.

"Oh you're a worrier alright," said the hat "but where to put you that's the question. Let's see, you're loyal, very loyal but with just a trace of arrogance. Yes, more ambitious than you realise and not without intelligence either. Hmm but yes I think I know where I'll put you, better be GRYFFINDOR."

Damian clenched his fist in celebration. He'd made it, he'd actually been sorted into a house and best of all it had been Gryffindor. He'd never voiced his thoughts but he knew deep down he'd wanted to go to Gryffindor. After reading about his Uncle and the brave Gryffindors it had always seemed like the best house to Damian. He walked over to the table with a huge smile on his face although he received a rather mute reception from the Gryffindors. James and Fred though soon made up for it with a huge whoop and even found it necessary to stand up to give him a hug and ruffle his hair. Damian suspected this had more to do with their desire to show off than any genuine affection they had for him.

"Yes Damian son, I always knew you had it in you."

" CONTOL YOURSELVES, SIT BACK DOWN AT ONCE." Garrow bellowed out at them.

Damian couldn't stop grinning; he'd made it to Hogwarts, he'd been sorted away from Costello, everything was going to be fine. Now he just had to keep his fingers crossed Hugo and Lily would be joining him.

He waited patiently joining in the cheers as several others were sorted into Gryffindor although it was with some reluctance that he clapped Tina and Tanya Raeburn's arrival at the Gryffindor table. At last Lily's name was called out. Upon hearing her name there were a few murmurs and looks exchanged, Damian assumed this was another example of his Uncles fame. As she went up to the hat James Potter shouted out to her "Go on Lily do the business, bring it home."

Rolling her eyes Lily strolled confidently up to the Hat and flipped it extravagantly on to her head. No sooner had the hat touched her than almost immediately there was a call of "GRYFFINDOR."

Well one down one to go thought Damian, smiling at Lily as she joined him on the table, now they just had to wait for Hugo.

It didn't take too long until Hugo's name was also called. He walked up to the chair looking just as nervous as Damian had been. Looking round Damian saw a pretty red head on the Ravenclaw table who he guessed was Hugo's sister giving him the thumbs up sign. Hugo though didn't seem to notice, he was muttering intently to himself as he put the hat on seemingly only focused on the job in hand. Hugo was on the chair by far the longest of any of the students and after a few minutes had passed Damian exchanged an anxious glance with Lily. But they didn't have to worry for only a second later the sorting hat's lengthy consultation with Hugo was over when it shouted out "GRYFFINDOR." looking relieved Hugo jumped down from the chair and he ran over to join their table, leaving only Christina Yang to be put in Ravenclaw and the sorting was over.

It had been a long day for Damian and he was starting to feel hungry. He tried to look away innocently as his stomach rumbled loudly causing several faces on the table to be turned looking for the culprit. He hoped food would at some point be provided but looking down the long polished table he could see no sign of any. He was distracted from his food worries by the sight of the headmistress arising from her position at the centre of the staff table. It had been Ginny who had first mentioned the Headmistress to him when they had been in Diagon Alley. Apparently she had only been in the post a few years and had been a bit of an outside candidate for the post not having previously taught at the school. Looking up at her she had a very grandmotherly look to her and her wrinkles and old fashioned glasses showed she had lived a long life. Yet her spiky grey hair and the glint in her eye gave her an edge that impressed Damian.

"Welcome one and all to Hogwarts. To those I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting, my name is Professor Maddock. As Headmistress I have the honour of being responsible for you and your education whilst you are at my school. The years I spent as a student in this castle were some of the best of my life and I hope yours will be to, I urge all of you to make the most your time here. Now to some notices. Firstly let me introduce a new member of staff to you, Professor Stirling will be taking your Defence against Dark Arts classes." She indicated with a wave of her hand a middle aged man seated at the far left of the teachers table who gave a curt nod at the introduction.

"We wish Professor Stirling the best of luck in his new position. Now, your caretaker Mr. Ackart apologises for his absence but wishes to make all aware that the full list of school rules are pinned to his notice board. He would also like to make all new students aware that he will ensure anyone breaking these rules will be appropriately punished." Maddock's grey eyebrows appeared to lift slightly as she said this. "Well, I have spoken for quite long enough, enjoy the feast," she finished before clapping her hands and immediately the tables were filled more plates and bowls than Damian had ever seen before.

He excitedly eyed the food around him. His previous experience with wizard food had not left him totally convinced of its merits but he had to admit what was in front of him looked very impressive. His rumbling stomach would certainly be grateful for it so he dived in.

Ten minutes later after finishing off the last of his Pumpkin Pie Damian turned his attention to his fellow Gryffindors. Failing to get any conversation out of Blaine Durnell other than his name he began to speak with Chris Fairbanks and Amorette Marsh. However, despite his attempts not to be too judgemental he couldn't help but find them both quite annoying. Looking further down the table it appeared Lily and Hugo weren't getting on any better. Tanya Raeburn was staring coldly at both of them, daggers in her eyes. Glad he was safely away Damian turned to ask Chris what he knew of the teachers.

"Ah yes you're been brought up a muggle so you won't know anything about them, god that must be lame." Trying to ignore the fact that Chris had used 'lame' in a sentence Damian let him continue. "Well let's see, Flitwick the charms professor's been here the longest he's the tiny one next to the Maddock."

Taking a look at the teachers table Damian realised Flitwick was indeed tiny, even the miniscule Lily would have to be careful not to step on him. "What's Maddock meant to be like, I heard there was a bit of opposition to her getting the job," asked Damian.

"I heard she's bonkers," chimed in Ammorette.

Damian felt she was in no position to comment.

"Nah if you want bonkers my brother said Hollis the potions teacher's properly mental. Maddock's a little weird and apparently she's not exactly the greatest head teacher in the world but she's still got quite a lot of respect in the magical community. Anyway there wasn't really a lot of choice. Flitwick was offered the job but he turned it down, said he too old. In fact the only other person to apply for the job was Garrow.

"The one who brought us in?"

"Yeah the really miserable one. Head of Slytherin house and Transfiguration. No one really knows why he didn't get the job, maybe they thought he'd depress us all too much," added Chris, who had a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the history and personality of all the teachers in Hogwarts as well as most of the celebrities in the magical world.

"What about that new teacher?" asked Damian, feeling he may as well take this chance to get all the information about Hogwarts he could from Chris.

"Sterling the new Defence against Dark arts teacher," said Chris. "He's a journalist. Not sure why he's here really to be honest. There's so many people trying to become Aurors at the moment I thought they'd get one of them to do it. There was even a rumour Harry Potter himself was going to teach some classes."

Damian was fairly certain Lily would have ensured this a scenario that was never likely to happen whilst she was at the school.

By the time Maddock had called an end to the feast Damian felt more informed on life at the school and looking down uneasily at his waist he felt he was probably a bit fatter too.

"Right, First Years follow us please."

The shrill voice had been emitted from one of the older girls who on her crisp robes had a sparkly badge with a large P on.

"Damian how'd you like to take a more exciting route to the common room," said James appearing over his shoulder and grinning down wickedly at Damian.

Damian was considering the merits of this when Lily got up to join them. "No thank you, I don't fancy being led into the dungeons or into a sinking step on my first night."

"Lily where's your sense of adventure," said Fred also joining them.

"I'm quite happy to have an adventure as long as neither you or my brother are anywhere near it," said Lily.

"Suit yourself." said James as he and Fred wandered off in a completely different direction to the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Do they really know a different way," asked Damian.

"Yeah they probably do," admitted Lily "learning secret passageways appears to be one of their few skills in life."

Feeling mildly disappointed he'd missed out on a chance to learn a secret passageway on his first night at school Damian turned to follow the rest of his Gryffindors after the high pitched girl. After several flights of steps they were confronted with a portrait blocking their way into the common room.

"This is the fat lady," said the girl, pointing to the portrait behind her. "Any time you wish to enter the common room you must give her the week's password. This week's password is Dumbledore's army. I suggest you do not forget it."

Damian was struck once again by how difficult wizards liked to make things for themselves. If it wasn't remembering passwords, it was staircases that moved without telling you or steps that you could sink in.

Following the other Gryffindors through a portrait of a lady even fatter than he was, Damian found himself in the Common room. It didn't have any particularly impressive features but it did give Damian a rather comfortable homely feeling about it. After separating from the girls, Damian and Hugo made their way to the boys Dormitories. A quick introduction to the slightly posh Edwin Renick and Damian jumped straight into bed. Despite spending nearly the entire day sitting day down Damian felt immensely tired. As his head went down on the pillow Damian thought of all he had encountered so far that day and of the wonderful possibilities that lay ahead.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay so Gryffindor's not the most original choice in the world but it was just where the characters seemed to fit.<strong>

**Also appologies for the lack of a sorting song. Due to irreparable damage the hat recieved during the war it can now no longer sing and is currently only capable of sorting students...or my attempts to write a song really sucked.**


	7. Chapter 7 First Day Blues

**Chapter 7 First Day Blues**

Damian slept well that night, dreams of dragons and trolls keeping his mind thoroughly entertained. However, early the next morning he was rudely interrupted from his deep sleep by a sharp pain in his stomach.

Damian slowly opened his eyes to reveal Edwin Renick standing at the top his bed prodding him with his wand.

"Up you get now, there's a good fellow."

Rubbing his eyes in disbelief Damian looked around the dormitory to see the other three boys in a similar state of confusion to himself.

"C'mon chaps we can't be late on the first day," said Edwin clearly not put off by their lack of enthusiasm.

"Dude its six o'clock," said an appalled Chris Fairbanks.

"Yeah what the hell, lessons don't start till nine," said Hugo who had already turned back over and placed his pillow over his head.

"You've got to get showered, dressed, down for breakfast and then find the room for our first lesson. C'mon you don't want to give Gryffindor a bad name by being late on our first day," said Edwin.

Reluctantly, and muttering darkly to each other Damian and Hugo got out of bed, soon followed by Chris and Blaine.

As Damian had suspected, the early morning wakeup call had not been necessary. Two hours later and after a lot of time wasting he was sat in a classroom with Lily and Hugo still waiting for the first lesson of the day to start.

"I can't believe him, we could have had at least an extra hour in bed," said Hugo not bothering to lower his voice much.

"For the last time can you please shut up about your lack of sleep," hissed Lily, who whilst finding the story initially hilarious had rapidly become bored with Hugo's complaints.

"I'm just saying I'm never going to get that hour back," said Hugo looking to Damian for support.

"So what are the rest of the girls like," asked Damian, lowering his voice to a whisper and ignoring Hugo.

"Well I'm not judgemental but nice, quiet, bitch, bitch," she whispered back indicating the four girls sat together at the front of the class. "We didn't really get much of a chance to chat but for some reason I don't think Tanya and Annabel like me very much.

"Maybe they were offended when you told them that _you_ didn't like them," said Hugo innocently.

Lily didn't get a chance to respond to Hugo's comment as their gossiping was interrupted when the doors to the classroom swung open to reveal Professor Sterling.

"Good morning class," said the professor striding to the front of the class room. "As you will no doubt recall from last night's feast my name is Professor Sterling and I will be instructing you in the art of Defence against the Dark Arts. I have spent my life travelling the world researching and practising Defence against the Dark Arts, it will now be your privilege to reap the benefits of this. I am unsure how long I will decide to remain in this job but I suspect I will prove to be one of the better teachers you will ever have. I suggest you make the most of your time with me. Pay attention and study hard."

Sterling's confident speech contrasted sharply with his appearance. His pudding bowl hair cut and horn-rimmed glasses gave him a very geeky look that didn't quite fit with how Damian had imagined a defence professor would look like.

"Not exactly short on confidence is he," muttered Hugo.

That was definitely true but Damian didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing. Learning how to protect yourself from getting killed by evil wizards seemed a fairly useful skill set to have. So being taught by someone who knew what they were doing was probably no bad thing even if they did seem to have a touch of arrogance about them.

Professor Sterling spent the rest of the lesson making them aware exactly how important it was to learn defence against the Dark Arts. The lesson was certainly interesting and Sterling was definitely an enthusiastic teacher although Damian was alarmed by quite how many threats a wizard could possibly encounter in his life.

The Gryffindors finished the lesson in high spirits and there was an air of positivity around the group as they made their way over to their transfiguration lesson with Professor Garrow on the over side of the school. As they walked into a new corridor Damian spotted Fred and James who appeared to be getting told off for some misdeed or other.

"Oh god what have they done now," said Lily.

"Wow detention on the first day, I think they may have broken their own record," said Hugo grinning.

"Who's that shouting at them," asked Damian.

"I think it's the caretaker Ackart. Only member of staff with his personal house elf," said Hugo.

As they got closer to them Damian could indeed make out what looked like a tiny green monster standing next to the old man. Ackart having finished his rant turned his back on Fred and James, who promptly disappeared, and headed over towards Damian, Lily and Hugo.

As the caretaker approached the group Damian looked curiously at him, there was something so familiar about Ackart's appearance. Damian strained for a moment struggling to place where he'd seen him before. He was about to forget about it when just as Ackart walked passes him, he saw the caretakers eyes. Those stone cold eyes that had haunted him all summer, Damian would have recognised them anywhere. He froze in horror. He knew that face, he knew that body. He'd seen it lain out cold in a puddle of blood on a stony floor. Damian turned to stare after him but found he couldn't move, his body rigid with shock.

"Hey Damian, what you waiting for? Come on," said Hugo.

"Sorry, just though I saw something," mumbled Damian struggling to regain his composure.

He just had to block it for the moment. Get through the next lesson then figure out what the hell had just happened to him. Damian stayed silent as Hugo and Lily discussed Filch and his house elf.

"I'm telling you that house elf gives me the creeps," said Hugo.

"I thought it looked cute," said Lily.

"Cute! Cute! Didn't you see its eyes? That thing looked like it wanted to murder us," said Hugo who looked like he wouldn't have minded returning the favour to the house elf.

Damian concentrated all he could on not fainting, reminding him very much how he'd felt the previous night approaching the Sorting Hat.

Walking into the classroom Damian quickly realised that today was not going to be his day for already in the classroom was John Costello and the rest of the Slytherins.

"Well come on in you four," said Costello with a false smile placed on his lips.

"There are only three of us," said Hugo coldly. He had clearly meant it when he had said he already disliked Costello.

"Oh but I felt it necessary to count Dursley twice," said Costello smugly "I mean I assume you'll be needing at least two chairs to fit that fat arse of yours on to."

The rest of the Slytherins hooted with laughter.

"You little shit," said Lily marching straight towards Costello who was not only a foot taller than Lily but holding his wand rather menacingly.

"Leave it Lily, you don't want to get in trouble on the first day," said Damian.

Lily looked like this wasn't a major concern for her but reluctantly sat down at Damian's words.

"Good decision, I'd hate to have messed up that pretty little face," said Costello.

Damian breathed in a sigh of relief the last thing he needed now was problems with Costello, there was too much going on in his mind. Why was the dead man from his vision with him at Hogwarts. It couldn't possibly have been real, could it? Did this mean he'd actually glimpsed something that was going to happen to him? Was he really going to walk shaking down a dark corridor to find the schools dead caretaker? Should he warn the caretaker, protect him. Maybe he could change his future.

"DURSLEY pay attention ."

Damian awoke from his thoughts to realise he'd somehow missed Professor Garrow coming into the room.

Unaware how Garrow even knew his name Damian mumbled a hasty apology. Garrow started to speak about transfiguration, how it was the most difficult subject and how they could only hope to master it by showing it the utmost respect. But Damian couldn't concentrate. Nothing he could do could get that image of Ackart's dead body out of his head.

"DURSLEY are you even listening to a word I say."

Damian looked up, aware that again he had got lost in his own thoughts and concerns

"Well Dursley what do you have to say," said Garrow staring down at Damian like he was a fly he wanted to swat away.

Damian struggled to think of an excuse, he suspected that just having seen a man who you know is going to die in the future was probably not going to count.

"Oh I wouldn't be offended sir, I've experience with Dursley. His last teacher thought his problems were due to a medical condition," said Costello again causing laughter from all the Slytherins in the room.

"Enough of this," snarled Garrow "Dursley, if I catch you not paying attention again you will have a detention and lose twenty house points for your pleasure."

Damian gulped, this really wasn't a very good day. He tried to stop thinking about Ackart and concentrate on the lesson, he was after all finally being taught some magic. Not that Damian was being particularly successful. He had so far only managed to make the feather they were supposed to be levitating gently twitch where as Costello appeared to be able to make his dance around the room with his eyes closed. Damian was relieved when the bell finally went to signal the end of class.

Once out of the lesson Damian realised he still had the rest of the day to go before he could get some peace and quiet to think about what on earth he was going to do. He stayed silent the rest of the day and did his best to concentrate on the rest of his lessons but he feared his performance with his wand was just as poor as earlier. He'd already almost injured Professor Flitwick and snapped Professor Longbottom's favourite plant. Eventually Damian was finished and for once skipping a meal he headed straight up to the dormitory.

Unfortunately once stretchered out on his bed Damian quickly realised there was no quick fix to his problem. If he accepted his vision had been real at some point in the future he was going to see Ackart die. The alternative was that he'd just gone mad. Damian suspected that if he told people back home that he was at a school for wizards and seeing visions of the future then they'd probably be inclined to believe the second option. Before he could contemplate his dilemma anymore Lily burst into the Dormitory soon followed by Hugo.

"Damian what's been the matter with you today. Something's clearly bothering you. I know we've not known you that long but we're your friends now so you need to tell us what's up," said Lily.

"Umm," mumbled Damian looking from one to the other.

"Look mate come on we can help you out," said Hugo.

Well he definitely wasn't getting anywhere by himself and the idea of sharing his problem did seem very comforting. "Ok, but this might sound slightly crazy," said Damian.

Lily and Hugo both listened attentively to him as he told them in detail what had happened in Diagon Alley and then his shock at seeing Ackart earlier in the day.

"Wow," said Hugo once Damian had finished.

"I knew it, Dad told me something wasn't right with you after Diagon Alley," said Lily.

"Harry knew," said Damian, surprised.

"Well I'm sure he never suspected anything like this but he knew something had freaked you. Me and Mum thought it was just shock at seeing all the magic or meeting Fred and George. Auror senses I guess," said Lilly shrugging,

"So what are you going to do then," asked Hugo.

"Well that's kind of the problem. I don't have a clue," said Damian honestly.

"I guess you've got to decide whether to tell Ackart or not," said Lily.

"Nah he looked a bit crazy and he'd never believe a student. I bet he'd just think you were winding him up," said Hugo.

"Maybe he could go and see Trelawney. I mean this is her area of expertise," said Lily.

"I dunno," said Hugo looking doubtful "Mum and Dad are always saying she's just an old fraud."

"Who's Trelawney," asked Damian.

"She's the Divintion teacher. It's not something you can take till third year but Divinition's all about seeing visions and looking for signs that stuffs going to happen. It's all a bit vague really and Trelawney's a bit of a joke, but like I said this is her area," said Lily.

"So is seeing visions and stuff normal for a wizard then," asked Damian thinking that perhaps he was not as different as he had feared.

"Err not really," said Hugo "I mean you do get some like Trelawney but it's not exactly common."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," said Lily seeing his concern.

"Well apart from the whole Ackart dying in front you thing," said Hugo cheerfully.

"So wait- you actually believe me, you don't think I'm mental," said Damian.

"Oh no I think your mental but I thought that before I found all this out," said Lily grinning.

Damian had never been so happy to be called mental before.


End file.
